A new report, published by JBKnowledge, Inc. in partnership with the Construction Financial Management Association and Texas A&M University’s Construction Science Department, reveals the results from a survey of roughly 1,028 construction industry professionals.
The third annual Construction Technology Report (CT Report) compiles the survey...

The third annual Construction Technology Report (CT Report) compiles the survey responses and statistics from over one thousand construction professionals on five main topics: IT Department Budgeting and Staffing; Cloud Security Policies and Procedures; Mobile Technology; Software in Use; and Emerging Technology.

“One of our primary motives in publishing this report every year is to answer one overarching question: How well are we, as an industry, using the technology available to us and how can we be using it more efficiently and effectively?” stated James Benham, President of JBKnowledge. Every year, Benham presents the report findings across the U.S. and Canada at national construction industry events and universities like Texas A&M. The report serves as a valuable research and educational tool for all current and upcoming industry professionals.

The report details how company size and revenue affects IT resources. For example, the likelihood of a construction company having an IT department drops by 50% when the company has less than 200 employees or less than $200 million in sales volume. In addition, the average IT budget allocation in construction is lower than any other industry. “We have about 225 end users and two dedicated IT employees,” commented one survey participant featured in the report.

The report also shows that more construction companies are allowing data in the cloud yet only 36.9% of companies have cloud security policies in place to protect that data. Even fewer companies are able to integrate any of their data across independent cloud solutions. One survey participant featured in the report commented, “Software companies could provide integrations but they don't want to help out the competition.”

The report lists 20 of builders’ favorite construction mobile apps, along with the operating systems and devices they use to run them. The report also details the software solutions being used in every stage of the build process.

The final section of the report explores the emerging technologies builders are researching and hoping to use in the construction build process, such as augmented reality, drones, virtual reality and wearable devices.

“This report gives companies many compelling reasons to continue to investigate new technologies and improve on their current solutions,” added Benham.